16 Weeks Pregnant with Twins

When you are carrying twins your pregnancy will progress faster than a woman who is pregnant with one baby. Your body is working harder to provide and accommodate two babies. Starting this week and till week 20, your babies will grow rapidly.

At 16 weeks pregnant with twins an ultrasound will tell you all about their development and weight gain. The babies are usually in their own sac within the uterus but this lining is very thin. Research indicates that...

...while the babies cannot see or hear each other yet, they are able to acknowledge the presence of each other in the womb.

When you are 16 weeks pregnant with twins, your symptoms are usually accelerated. You will start to feel the babies move. Your uterus will have enlarged considerably and you will show much more as compared to a woman who is pregnant with one baby. Some of the main symptoms you will experience would include fatigue, swollen feet, change in sexual desire, breathlessness, constipation, heart burn, change in sleep patterns, anemia, larger than usual abdomen, bleeding gums and of course, stretch marks. Sometimes you may also feel sharp shooting pains in your abdomen but usually these should pass. In case it does not, you should seek medical help. The twins are about 6 inches long and weigh about 7 ounces each. Like regular babies, they see the formation of lanugo over them. Their skeletons also start to harden.

When you go for your check-ups the doctor will check some basic markers every time. Blood pressure and pulse along with respiratory rate is checked along with steadiness of heart and lungs and weight gain. The doctor will also check fetal heartbeats, pressure within the uterus and ultrasound for development of the babies. Weight gain is another factor that is considered important but you should not obsess over it. The doctors with all their tests will be able to tell you if need to change your eating habits.

You should remember that carrying twins is very different from carrying a single baby. So remember that most literature is largely geared towards pregnancies that carry single babies. You should seek a support group of mothers who have delivered twins as the things to keep in mind and look out for can be completely different. Sometimes by the fourth or the fifth month mothers carrying twins can get physically very tired. You should get adequate rest.